Monday, February 18, 2008

Why Hillary Can't Win"When people thought she was a winner, then they were inclined to feel more warmly toward her, and when they suspect that she's a loser, they decide — like all Americans toward all losers — that she must be humiliated and crushed." - John Podhoretz

I assumed that Hillary Clinton's fund raising prowess would give her the nomination. I assumed that her husband would be an asset with most Democratic voters. I didn't think that Obama would get votes from so many white people.

I don't think I was wrong in making those assumptions, but I missed one thing completely. I forgot that when Hillary Clinton tries to be slick, she f_ _ks up badly. Sucking up to Rupert Murdoch and Matt Drudge are definitely in the trying to be slick category. More importantly, I forgot about the role of the corporate media, and I didn't foresee that they would side so obviously with Obama.

That is why Hillary is done. She cannot over come the barrage of negative press that has hit her. The press are in the tank for Obama, and that is obviously because he is the corporate media favorite.

Hillary and Bill realized that the media, especially conservatives like Rupert Murdoch and Matt Drudge, could make or break her campaign. They set off on a course that seemed to make sense, get them on her side and keep them there.

But no one likes a traitor, and I'm sure that is how Murdoch and Drudge regarded her pitching and wooing. Along comes Obama, proving time and again that he is "safe" as the Drudges and Murdochs define it. He endorsed Joe Lieberman, his Senate mentor, he waffled on Iraq, often contradicting his own statements about being anti-war. He said he would bomb Iran. He said that Israel can keep killing people whenever and wherever it chooses.

Most importantly he told them that he will keep black people quiet. Like the right wing he thinks that the 60s and 70s were "excessive." He says "there is no black America" and in any case we are "90% of the way towards equality."

What's not to like? Obama made the case he could beat the woman they always hated and he talked the way they liked. Now you can stick the fork in her.

I never liked Hillary Clinton. I am a New Yorker and I have never voted for her. In her last Senate campaign I voted for her opponent, Jonathan Tasini. In the recent New York primary I voted for Dennis Kucinich.

Now that she is getting her comeuppance I don't feel as happy as I thought I would. If we were getting a better deal with Obama, I could rejoice. If the attacks against her were based on facts I would be happy.

Instead her political twin will beat her. Obama has given more money to super delegates than she has. His contributions since 2005 total $698,200 while she has only given $205,500. He is getting more bang for his buck, with 35 of 82 recipients pledging their support. She has the support of only 13 out of the 109 who have gotten money from her. They used to call this vote buying, I don't know what it is called now. Money still talks.

"In every case the Center (Center for Responsive Politics) found in which superdelegates received money from one candidate but not the other, the superdelegate is backing the candidate who gave them money."

If Obama's super delegate hunting continues to run as smoothly as the rest of his campaign, he will buy off more of them and still manage to look good while Hillary will be portrayed as a sharp elbowed harpy.

Hillary has been hoisted on her own petard. She isn't Mrs. Slick Willie after all. She could have used her husband's popularity among Democrats, she could have said she made a mistake when she voted to occupy Iraq. Instead she chose to cozy up to people who threw her under the bus at the first opportunity. She doesn't know what hit her, and she doesn't have a way out.

If she did it wouldn't matter. The corporate media have chosen Barack Obama and that is why he will get the nomination.

Margaret Kimberley

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